[RiderZone]

This piece is primarily based on my opinions, so it’s going to get complex and abstract in places. Let me then start by saying something non-controversial, something we can all agree on: Formula 1 is boring as a bag of bricks.

Right, so now that that’s established, let’s define the problem here:

• Even though the last few years of MotoGP have been exciting, unpredictable, full of the best racing in all motorsport, F1 has completely overshadowed MotoGP in terms of popularity.
• The bean counters in charge of MotoGP at Dorna have watched the line go down, and have responded by increasing the number of race weekends, and increasing the number of races within each race weekend.

This is a bad idea, and now I’ll try to explain why that is so.

Risk vs. Reward

Both F1 and MotoGP are dangerous sports, but the level of danger involved is not comparable between the two, especially now with the introduction of the Halo technology in F1. This is rather obvious, but still needs stating, the fundamental dynamics of motorcycle racing mean that the rider needs to be moving on the bike, which means they need a certain level of flexibility in their body, which means that they can’t be protected by anything too rigid or constraining. Riders nowadays use sophisticated airbag leather suits and fancy helmets, but that can hardly be compared to a metal and carbon fiber cage around you.

The level of risk of injury for a MotoGP rider is far higher per race than for an F1 driver. No amount of protective gear will help you when your own bike flings you into the air, and then proceeds to headbutt you at 200 kph. This is where rider safety hits a wall, and there’s simply no way to reduce this risk, especially if you want close racing.

The decision by Dorna to increase the number of races per year, and also introduce Sprint races, is multiplying this risk many times over. This is quite easily noticeable in the fact that only 4 events have happened this year, and already Pol Espargaro, Enea Bastianini, Marc Marquez and Miguel Oliviera have had to miss races due to injuries.

This is a disaster waiting to happen.

Speed vs. Safety

Another important aspect of the safety problem in MotoGP is the ever increasing power and speed. This can be all blamed on one dude and his evil monobrow, Gigi Dall’Igna. His relentless pursuit of a championship for Ducati spawned the whole aerodynamics war that’s still going, which has pushed the acceleration and top speeds of these bikes beyond crazy.

The war isn’t restricted to just ugly wings either, these bikes now have ride height devices, holeshot devices, tuned mass dampers and turbo encabulators. Riders are not only going faster than ever, they’re doing more things on the bike while going faster, leaving them more prone to errors. The monster crash at Austria in 2020 was far too close for comfort, but it doesn’t seem to have changed much.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGPrHj1nPt0

Like F1, this type of a technology war among factories doesn’t help with their budgets either, I wouldn’t be surprised if this was part of the reason why Suzuki decided to quit the championship. But more importantly, all of these additions are alienating people like me from relating to the bikes.

What I’m going to say sounds pretty stupid, because it is, but it matters. When I ride my motorcycle on a twisty canyon path, I like to imagine I’m on a racetrack, switching from side to side, leaning dangerously, hitting those apexes. In reality my lean angle doesn’t exceed single digits, and no apexes are hurt in the operation at all, but you know what I mean. With these new machines with their buttons and levers and wings, that whole imaginary connection is gone.

I would never be able to ride a MotoGP bike, because of a number of good reasons, but with these new machines it seems more like I simply can’t ride them, they are far more complex than just a motorcycle, too many things are going on that an idiot like me wouldn’t be able to handle. That sucks, and I hate it. Moreover, this shouldn’t only be left implied, the new bikes are ugly. They look nothing like the machines a normal dude can buy, and that sucks too.

Look at the Aprilia RS-GP from 10 years ago, and what it is now. What the hell happened?





Sport vs. Entertainment

Formula 1 is more about entertainment, more about the individuals, their stories, and their rivalries. MotoGP is more about the sport, about the racing overall, or at least it has been since end of 2021.

Before that we had Valentino Rossi, for a very long time he wasn’t just a racer in MotoGP, he was MotoGP. People watched races because of him, people hated Marquez and Lorenzo and Biaggi because of him, he was a rare combination of sport and entertainment. Rossi retired at the end of 2021 season, and a large number of superfans retired with him.

Not only that, Marq Marquez missed large parts of 2020, 2021, and 2022 seasons due to some massive crashes and injuries. What that meant is that coming into 2023, MotoGP had its biggest star retire, and the second biggest star miss most of the previous races. This shifted the balance even further towards people who watch the series for the racing, not for the individuals. People like me, who enjoy random people start from 15th and go on to win the race, became the majority of the audience.

Into the mix in 2019 got thrown the F1 Netflix docu series, Drive to Survive, which helped Formula 1 massively in terms of mainstream appeal. F1 is primarily entertainment, which is why the reality drama type thing works for them. MotoGP tried to copy this with MotoGP Unlimited Amazon Prime series in 2022, but people like me were simply not interested in that type of a thing.

The sad reality is that entertainment sells better than sport, and MotoGP is trying to cash in on that trend. But MotoGP in its current form does not have the characters that can create enough drama to be entertaining. There are no real rivalries in MotoGP, they are just a bunch of dedicated supermen who really want to win races. The old psychological games of Rossi are gone, riders now often train together, and being a teammate doesn’t mean instant grudge anymore. Rivalries happen when one guy gets dominant and cocky, and then you root for the underdog to pull him back to earth. When some random guy wins every race and the championship changes hands every season, nobody is dominant.

The only real drama in the 2023 season so far has been the multiple mistakes by stewards in handing out penalties, drama that gets even more dramatic when you realize that the MotoGP safety officer Tomé Alfonso Ezpeleta is the nephew of CEO Carmelo, while Carlo, son of Carmelo, is part of Race Direction. Tomé’s partner Tamara is a permanent member of the MotoGP Stewards panel, the body that dishes out the justice. The monopoly this family has over motorcycle racing is pretty insane, Dorna owns WSBK too btw, and Carmelo’s daughter Ana is the head of Dorna’s talent promotion, running things like Red Bull Rookies among others.

I think we need a “Keeping up with the Ezpeletas” at this point.

Greed vs. Fear

Even though F1 and MotoGP are both in the motorsports category, they are very different animals. Dorna’s incompetent attempts to copy F1’s popularity while trying to fix what isn’t really broken will lead to more injuries and suffering for the riders. MotoGP is not going to be as popular as F1 simply because of the nature of their being, Dorna needs to embrace that and focus on the racing rather than the drama. It would also help if they stop with the whole sportswashing thing, but I guess it’s too late for that.

It almost seems like Dorna is in a state of panic, and they’ve reverted to the most hypercapitalist response to decreasing profits, to make their workers work harder and work more hours. This will lead to more injuries, more riders missing races, and reduce the viewership even further, digging their hole even deeper.

The whole Sprint thing needs to be scrapped, the total number of races per season are already more than enough at 20, cut back on the technology wars, just bring the sport back to its roots. MotoGP racing has been the best for many years, the only reason I would stop watching it now is because I’m too scared of seeing someone die or get horribly injured. I'm looking for a fun Sunday evening, not an involuntary snuff film.

It is too easy to forget that under those dark lids, most of these are 20 something year olds, even younger in Moto2 and Moto3. Yes they are professionals and hard as nails, but they are only human.

Right now, MotoGP seems like a circus where the owners have removed the safety net, increased the height of the hanging ropes, and are asking the artists to do double the number of shows every week. Somebody is going to get hurt, and that'll be the drama nobody wants.

[GTO]

Great thread, thanks for sharing! We will add it to our homepage this week.

As a businessman, I have to comment that MotoGP needs some good, old shots of marketing & promotions too. Just look at F1 under the new owners = they have greatly ramped up direct & indirect marketing, social media participation, better ways to engage fans, better onboard shots, better camera work at the races, fastest lap of the race points...and even a Netflix series that brought in millions of new viewers to Formula 1 (related reading). In the USA alone, viewership doubled and new tracks are being added.

I have watched a few MotoGP races and enjoyed them. But it simply has no headspace in the minds of regular enthusiasts like me (not the case with diehard bikers like you). If I don't even think of MotoGP during the weekend, how will I watch it? Even on Team-BHP - the definitive platform for auto enthusiasts in India - how many posts do we have for MotoGP races? We live in an age of information & entertainment overload today. There are only so many hours we have for entertainment every day, and the options are too many (Instagram, 10000 streaming apps & TV series, restaurants, drives, books & reading, family get-togethers...).

Had read a good article & discussion on The-Race too. Check it out.

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by GTO

But it simply has no headspace in the minds of regular enthusiasts like me (not the case with diehard bikers like you). If I don't even think of MotoGP during the weekend, how will I watch it? Even on Team-BHP - the definitive platform for auto enthusiasts in India - how many posts do we have for MotoGP races?

What MotoGP is missing now is a hugely popular polariser, which was VR. That they dont have one right now means people are NOT tuning in to see such a figure win, fight, or lose to anyone else. For two decades we had fights between the cream of MotoGP and Rossi. Dorna is missing the yellow army, and sorely at that.
While leaving aside any discussion of the greatness (fanboy here), there is no denying that VR defined and directed the popularity of MotoGP. He didn't even have to win. Even in Ducati days, he kept things on a boil.
Unfortunately, MotoGP does not have such a personality right now.

@GTO, the racing is still amazing, if you can sit down to watch.

[RiderZone]

Agreed GTO, Dorna is doing none of the important things that F1 has done to help with the popularity, MotoGP doesn't even post a simple race recap like F1 does on YouTube, they have to go with his over-produced "top 5 moments" thing for some reason. They have made a few good choices though, like hiring Simon Crafar as a commentator, but overall it seems like they are still stuck in the social media strategies from 5 years ago. On the broadcasting front too it's quite difficult to find them on a TV channel, luckily this year they are on JioCinema, but the Sprint races are not shown live. Many people outside India are complaining that the only way for them to see the races is to pay for the MotoGP video pass, which is fairly expensive. It's just a line of bad decisions one after another, which is sad considering how good the actual racing is, and my main fear is that this short-term money grab from Dorna is going to lead to some career ending injuries.

[srini1785]

Every sport needs the following to sustain:

1. Stars : Valentino Rossi, Virat Kohli, Michael Schuhmacher, Messi, Shaquille o'neal , Mike Tyson. So you get the drift?. Stars are the sport and sport are the stars. After VR, MotoGP wasn't the same. It reminds me of what John Lennon once said "Pete was a good drummer but Ringo was a good beatle"

2. Money: There is no substitute for moolah. Sports like F1 and MotoGP especially need it since racing is technical sport and almost every team tries to prove that they are technically superior by bringing their best engineers to the sport. This don't come cheap.

3. Marketing/Merchandising: No point in having talent unless you promote yourself. The sport has to reach its intended audience. Target group for equestrian is not the same as say Cricket or Basketball.

4. Inclusion: A sport has to be universal. Football is the most popular sport in the world for a reason. From the barren lands of Africa, desserts of ME, Cold regions of Europe practically everyone can play it. MotoGP and F1 are basically seen as sports of developed nations with less following in Third world countries. Cricket still has the hangover of the British empire and so does rugby. Baseball is seen as an American sport just like their version of Rugby (they call it Football).

5. Administration: Lastly it needs proper administration which not only ensures proper governance but keeps malpractices out and most importantly rakes in the moolah.

I'm not an avid fan of MotoGP but see few races but after Valentino's retirement, have lost all the interest in it. I was never a fan of F1.

[SinghBHP]

I dont understand much technicalities of MotoGP or F1 but have watched it mostly for the stars. For F1 post Michael Schumacher I rarely watched and MotoGP I watched at random during VRs times. That name (Valentino Rossi) when shouted anxiously and with high rate of speech matching the speed of bikes by commentators of MotoGP always excited me.

Yeah, unless you are too passionate about certain sport like cricket for most of Indians it does need a star. And I agreed with above post that the sport has to be inclusive like football.

I believe tennis will also soon face similar issues. Federer has retired , Nadal and Djokovic almost at end of their career. Nadal I believe would go soon because of the Power game he plays which needs lot of fitness. I do not remember any other famous names there any more.

[no_fear]

F1 is a predictable 3 horse race with Max, Sergio, and (insert either of Alonso, Russell, Hamilton). Red Bull has dominated 2 -3 seasons and despite what channels and pundits say, the actual viewership is declining. The whole hoopla of drive to survive has died and even US spectators are not interested in buying tickets for F1 23.

As Riderzone rightly said, F1 is a very boring sport. Its a display of ostentatious wealth, celebrity name dropping, and a paisa wasool weekend show. It's an event where the big teams win races and the smaller ones get some points and fight for survival. In short, it is as predictable as a blockbuster Bollywood movie. Hero, heroine, villain, dance, fight, and winner goes home happy.

Now on the contrary, I love MotoGP, because it is the complete antithesis of F1. It is not about glamour, and bling, and weekend entertainment, but a proper race, where the bikes, parts and riders matter. Every rider has a chance to win, and the current crop of riders are probably some of the best in the past 20 years.

Any of Bagnaia, Quartaro, Vinales, Miller, Bastiani, Morbidelli, Binder, Pedrosa, Nakagami, Marquez, and Martin can be a race winner. Everyone loves Rossi and he did wonders for the sport, and he plays a big part in the growth of MotoGP especially with his VR46 academy and the Mooney MotoGP team. But even a giant like Rossi struggled in MotoGP.

Leaving the riders out, the race technology used on the MotoGP bikes trickles down to sportsbikes in the same or next season. The parts that get developed like caliper cooling ducts, winglets, Kalex swingarm, and heck, even SC Project exhausts; all of these really excite us gear heads.

Speaking of Dorna - are they a joke? Absolutely, the family owning the group has complete control of everything and nepotism runs rife. But Dorna is a mom and pop shop that only knows motorcycling and has been involved in the actual growth of motorbike racing including BSB, while the current owners of F1 - Liberty Media are first and foremost a media company that own Atlanta Braves, and Sirius Radio. Liberty Media has turned F1 into an Instagram / Tik Tok spectacle, while Dorna is still stuck in the 19th century.

[amitayu]

I love MotoGP!

Its not only about being a 2 wheeler afficiando, the kind of dog fights that motoGP offers is as nail biting as it can possibly get. This is further driven by the fact that some of the riders are borderline loco who plunge into crazy manouvres like new age gladiators.

However, the appeal of MotoGP is severely limited to certain markets and they have not diversified. I am surprised that MotoGP has not build a market in South Asia which is perhaps the biggest market for two wheelers in the world.

Characters is also a major draw factor. They need to promote the riders as cults just like F1 does. All the world knows about Schumi but how many know about the Doctor, even though he is perhaps a greater motoring icon?
Hamilton is a pansy compared to Raul Fernandez or Bagnaia, but still gets more recognition!!

[Passatman]

Hi! While I have been an avid fan of F1 over the past 4 decades, the charm seems to be wearing off lately. Culprit # 1 would be the entry of gizmos / driver aids which have turned this fine sport to a boring saga ; almost like a video game!

Now, MotoGP is again a sport I have been following since the days of Kevin Schwantz, Luca Cadalora, Mick Doohan and of course #46, #93 etc.
Yes, I agree that the sprint races have increased the Risk Vs Reward insanely, and this is mainly due to the short duration and the need to gain an early advantage as tyre wear does not majorly come into play . Most of the incidents are in Lap 1 where mostly Riders on Cold tyres and hot spirits barrel down the straight and into corners and other riders.
I do watch Moto3, Moto2 also and i believe that Dorna needs to leverage more on these races too and promote them more. I mean, how many watched and cheered on that Wonderkid #37 on that stupendous Race Day @ Doha? That 2021 season in Moto3 was as interesting as MotoGP with Acosta, Foggia, Oncu, Masia etc . So too was Moto2 , with that intense rivalry between a certain Idemitsu's Ai Oguro, Chantra and Ajo's Remy Gardner & Raul Fernandez ,Marco Bezzechi .
Sadly, when I talk to some of my friends on Motorsports, it's only names like Michael Schumacher, Rossi etc that enticed them to watch. Not the magic of a certain Alonso ( Both Fernando in a Renault/Ferrari/Aston Martin as well as Alonso Lopez on that Boscoscuro Chassis Moto2 machine).

Rider gizmos too are playing spoilsport in MotoGP and while the current rivalry between Ducati Vs Yamaha Vs KTM vs Honda Vs Aprilia plays on, I fervently hope that Rider inputs are given more weightage than gizmos ( Alex Rins win @ COTA was a plus for rider inputs IMO)

So while popular Drivers/ Riders do increase viewership, IMHO if the elec devices are reduced, I believe it would probably add more zing!

And yes Dorna, do popularise Moto2 and Moto3 also. One major point I noticed in 23 on Jio was the Commercials in the short span of a MotoGP sprint race. Definitely a dampner ��

[yshvj]

Moto gp is a very predictable sport with Ducati being the dominant team and Pecco being the dominant rider. KTM is the genuine 2nd fastest team with a good race pace and then the only rider is Bezzecchi who looks promising for a race win. Then throw in A.Marques, Zarco, A.Rins and M.Marques in contention who can give them a tough fight. Other than these all are playing in their own to score a few points.

And having a dominant team and driver making F1 boring, then people, Honda and Marques has seen dominance from 2012 and 2013 respectively till 2019 with 2015 being an exception, and since 2020 Ducati is dominating and same continues this season. So this makes Moto GP as boring as watching paint dry.

I have not been a regular viewer of Moto GP as I would rather watch a kid play with building blocks then watching it, but I only started this season because it’s coming to India. Anyways it is the 2nd best form of motorsport after F1 or even F2 or F3.

The only thing that keeps Moto GP viewers interested is the occasional to frequent crashes.

[autotranny]

Slightly unrelated, but I'm wondering how many fans F1 would have lost this year in India after switching to their own 'mobile only' app and ditching Hotstar / Star Sports. Me for one, I've watched only the highlights of 2023 races so far and that too on YouTube app on TV. Maybe this is something that Moto GP should capitalize on.

[supermax]

F1 is boring as a bag of bricks? Let's agree to disagree. I've been watching the sport since '94, and know that the sport has had its highs and lows. By far, the worst ever era in F1 was when it had devolved into a sport where drivers switched to driving as slowly as possible to conserve tires, when the sport had the ridiculous no-pitstop races. Earlier, in the V12 and V10 eras, the different pit strategies with varying fuel loads was part of the excitement, as was the qualifying format where each driver had eight laps to come up with the best time. Things change, not always for the better, but the sport evolves. For me, the sport is still the pinnacle of motorsports, due to the evolution of technology that then spills over into passenger cars. Don't forget that energy recovery systems started with F1, and now we drive cars with regenerative braking, in normal street-going cars. As for the excitement, there's still plenty.

The sport has plenty to offer to new legions of fans, in the younger drivers who are trying to make it big. Whether it is Charles Leclerc, looking to be a serious title contender, or Lando Norris, trying to nail his first victory, or George Russell who is trying to establish himself as the new number one driver at Mercedes, there are plenty of people with points to prove. On the other end of the spectrum, there's the the wily Alonso who seems to be driving as well as he's ever done, rejuvenated by a car that is actually fast, and Valtteri Bottas, who is looking to drive the wheels off that Alfa Romeo, now that he's nobody's number 2 driver.

Drive to Survive has succeeded in pulling in new followers into the sport, and my wife is one of them, but she's already progressed beyond the show's limited scope for providing information. While she's not witnessed the amazing races and slugfests we've seen, with the likes of Michael Schumacher, Jacques Villenieuve, Mika Hakkinnen, Kimi Räikkönnen, Alonso, Hamilton, Massa, Barrichello, and Vettel, she's seeing a generational talent in Max Verstappen rising. There will always be the 'Those days were so much better than these' conversations, be it in F1, cricket, football, or whatever, probably even ludo, if there's a world level ludo playing league, but that's besides the point. The fact is that there's plenty of entertainment and life in the sport.

What I do agree with is the pointlessness of the sprint races, be it in moto GP or in F1. These races are idiotic, put more pressure on teams and mechanics, as they'll have to scramble like mad if anything goes wrong during the Sprint race, trying to push to get the car fixed before the actual race. This is likely to heap even more pressure and worsen the quality of life of mechanics who are already under extreme stress. Teams with tight finances are even more vulnerable with these useless races. Backmarker teams have even less gain from these races, as only the top 8 finishers get points, so for teams which might be able to get the final point in feature races, these are risky races with zero benefits, except for getting to drive around a few more laps with their sponsors' logos under the sun (or lights).

[Formula1]

As someone who follows every F1 weekend, I haven't watched even one episode of Drive To Survive. Honestly, it'd be boring repetition. I cannot say I'm a fan of any particular driver either, other than being of the opinion that Alonso maybe the best of the last decade, and present.

As long as the sport isn't ruined with stupid experiments (like 3 day 3 event sprint weekends, which was hilariously overcorrected to 3 day 4 event weekends), I'm all for more viewers and more entertainment. But underneath it all, if you scrape off all the beer meant for the fanboys, it is a fierce sport.

So, I don't see why MotoGP can't emulate the same stupid circus show as long as the core is intact.

PS: A 3 day 3 event sprint weekend will still work if the sprint result has no implication on Sunday. I think they'll switch to this format in the end.

[ads11]

As a long time F1 absolutist, I have to agree that the actual race product right now is a bit drab. If anything, I find myself rolling my eyes at all the gaffes they do, such as the potential vehicular manslaughter they unwittingly nearly got Ocon to do at that chaotic Azeri GP. All that said, and I really dislike the way Drive to Survive plays fast and loose with the facts, F1 under Liberty have nailed the marketing and social media aspect. I've seen DTS bring in friends who had no previous interest in the sport, but tellingly would binge shows, and thus got drawn in. The Youtube highlights were an early and welcome step for sure, getting around the stranglehold that Sky F1 had in the UK at least with all things F1.

I've actually found myself tuning in more and more to watch MotoGP highlights in the past 5 years because the racing is always exciting and it genuinely appears that a much wider pool of race winners is possible (though I will admit, lately the advantage of the Ducati's is rather telling). In the UK at least I benefit from BT Sport putting up Youtube highlights, which I feel Dorna would do well to license globally because it's much better done than the standard offering from the F1 channel for eg.

Coming to the main issue, I agree that chasing the volume approach that Liberty is seeking with F1 races springing up ad infinitum, and the introduction of this sprint format, is not the way for Dorna and MotoGP given the much higher risk factor involved for riders. What Dorna should do is instead focus on the markets where MotoGP interest is high. Indonesia is one of them, absolutely have races in the ASEAN region. India I'm not sure how big the local fan base is but that could be a future growth market so fine, go there too (minority view but I didn't mourn the loss of the Indian GP in F1, I think for our country it's still roo niche a sport).

I also think Dorna need to clamp down on some of the reckless driving from say Marquez for eg. Dorna were happy to encourage his devil may care approach when Honda and Marquez were hoovering up titles but look how that's ended up now (F1, but more Max has an issue too here in not recognising that his brand of aggressive racing isn't particularly nice when anyone is on the receiving end - see his hissy fit when George gave him a taste of his own medicine).

I'm not one to toe the Marquez-Honda line but I wonder if they have some valid grounds for complaint with how far some of the aero and software advances have gone? Those Ducati's are quite literally rocket ships on the straights and their launch control is terrifyingly good. You can see how the riders struggle with the tires if even one of the protruding aero vanes gets knocked off during some argy-bargy in the corners.

There is a valid point to be made in that the current crop of top racers in MotoGP doesn't have anyone with the crossover appeal and star power that say Valentino had or F1 has (though try as they might F1 can't seem to get Max to be that crossover star given his surly attitude, instead its the side cast who have broader appeal than old Max). One wonders which of Pecco, Fabio et al., could have that crossover appeal? For a while Marquez seemed to be the guy building up as the go to name for the sport but he seems determined to end up in a tire barrier at the rate he's going.

[aargee]

If MotoGP is a risk proposition, then what should one say about Isle of Man TT?

Let's start with some fun first

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3Ck0R1Ha_8

And then some music

https://youtu.be/iGa8RE-8UpU

https://youtu.be/OYaSG_IoAXk

Or if you would like to take a personal, sorry virtual ride

https://youtu.be/ugZKd4mqvwQ

And finally to some serious stuff

https://youtu.be/5iPjc1sp4Eo

My point is that there's risk & danger in every business & work and what one perceives as risk may be a calculated risk for someone else; and some folks may enjoy what others perceive as risk & danger. Context: the way things are being perceived, changes everything. Any of the skilled rider from MotoGP would hands down lose to a pullingo riding a Dio at Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad or Delhi, while the track puts things back to track perspective even if a best guy from any of the city riding a fastest motorcycle with a MotoGP rider.

And yes, I more than agree strongly, MotoGP is absolute boring!